We should all be alerted to the challenges that we face in the world. A new documentary film has been released called Obsession. Radical Islams War Against the West.

For a 12 minute preview of the film click on the following link: http://www.obsessionthemovie.com/12min.htm

I have shamelessly plagiarised the following information from the www.obsessionthemovie.com web site.

Background:
Almost 70 years ago, Europe found itself at war with one of the most sinister figures in modern history: Adolf Hitler. When the last bullet of World War II was fired, over 50 million people were dead, and countless countries were both physically and economically devastated. Hitler's bloody struggle sought to forge the world anew, in the crucible of Nazi values. How could such a disaster occur? How could the West have overlooked the evil staring it in the face, for so long, before standing forcefully against it?

Today, we find ourselves confronted by a new enemy, also engaged in a violent struggle to transform our world. As we sleep in the comfort of our homes, a new evil rises against us. A new menace is threatening, with all the means at its disposal, to bow Western Civilization under the yoke of its values. That enemy is Radical Islam.

Using images from Arab TV, rarely seen in the West, Obsession reveals an 'insider's view' of the hatred the Radicals are teaching, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination. With the help of experts, including first-hand accounts from a former PLO terrorist, a Nazi youth commander, and the daughter of a martyred guerilla leader, the film shows, clearly, that the threat is real.

A peaceful religion is being hijacked by a dangerous foe, who seeks to destroy the shared values we stand for. The world should be very concerned.

An interview with the filmmakers: Wayne Kopping and Raphael Shore.

What was the film originally about?

We were originally planning on making a film about anti-Semitism. Radical Islam wasn't in the picture. In 2004, when we were approached to do this project, the violence against Jews in Europe was already back at 1930s levels. In Canada, it was skyrocketing. Places like Palestinian Media Watch were regularly publishing reports about clerics preaching to kill the Jews. The producer was really interested in doing something on this. It's a subject very close to him. Over 20 years ago, when he was student in university, he was trying to figure out what was so unique about the Jews that, time after time after time, for thousands of years, they were the focus of so much hatred.

Why did you change tracks, and decide to make the film about Radical Islam, instead?

We started thinking about where the recent violence was coming from. By and large, in our generation, it's been from the Muslim community. This does not mean we're suggesting all Muslims are violent and anti-Semitic. Far from it. But unfortunately, there are a small, but very vocal and significant number out there, who are. And we saw this throughout the Islamic world, in the media and from clerics and from other leaders. In English, their rhetoric was couched against Israeli atrocities. Anti-Zionism. But what they were telling their own people in Arabic was outright Anti-Semitic. Kill the Jews. The Jews want to control the world. The Jews murder Christians and use their blood in matzah. The Jews were responsible for 9-11. There were serious discussions of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Some of their imagery copied exactly what the Nazis put out there. And these weren't fringe outlets giving this over. These were Radical leaders on prime-time TV, and in major newspapers, and in the schools, and in the mosques.

So how did you make the leap from Anti-Semitism to Anti-Westernism?

It wasn't much of a leap. As we were watching this rhetoric, when we looked at what these guys were saying, it was clear their messages weren't directed at the Jews alone (though, they got a lot of the air-time). In their writings and their speeches, really, they were going after the West. Muslims around the world were being told by these Radical fanatic leaders that jihad against the infidels was an obligation. The glory of dying for Allah and the martyr's place in paradise. And we saw the results of this indoctrination being played out over and over in Madrid, and Chechnya, and Indonesia, and Thailand, and France, and Israel, and 9-11, and there was Daniel Pearl's murder in Afghanistan, and the beheadings in Iraq, and then London. And MEMRI and Robert Spencer and others were publishing week after week one statement after another from these guys talking about going after America and Israel and the West. Sure, when we looked closely, the Jews were being targeted. But when we pulled out a little, and got a look at the bigger picture, it was obvious that the whole world and it's values were under attack.

Is there really a war going on?

Absolutely, as far the radicals are concerned. When we interviewed Daniel Pipes and Caroline Glick, they both said the same thing: It's a world war. It's hard for us to recognize, because it's not like WWII, or other conflicts, with armies going head to head against one another; conquer this capital or capture this leader, and the whole country falls. A lot of what's going on is much more insidious. And we're not at all accustomed to the tactics. We're not accustomed to an enemy that's scattered everywhere. And if we captured Osama bin Laden tomorrow, it wouldn't be a death knell to fundamentalist terror, because you have all these other different organizations, and millions of like-minded sympathizers, around the globe, loosely unified in the same goal of bringing down the West, and establishing Islamic states. It's in many of the mosques. It's in many of the schools. So, yes, it is a global conflict. It is a war. It's just not like any we've encountered before.

Why does this story need to be told?

People need to be woken up to the threat. Radical Islamist violence is rising every year. Bernard Lewis said that Europe will be Islamic by the end of the century. And whether that means that Paris will look like Ankara-or more like Riyadh or the Taliban-is anyone's guess. Why is that? Why the transformation? (Leaving politics, and the European-Arab Dialogue and similar threads aside) for years and years, people have not stood up what for what they believed. ie: for the core values of their civilization. (Assuming they've taken the time to question what those values are, and why they're important). The Islamists have.

Are you suggesting we need to stand up against Radical Muslims because of their beliefs?

We need to stand up for what we believe. Understandably, we don't want to be intolerant. We've seen what happened in Europe and America, with the hatred and prejudice that came from one group claiming to to be superior to everyone else, going back to the Crusades and the Inquistion, to slavery and Jim Crow. But, in our struggle to be respectful for different cultures, it's almost as if we've confused multi-culturalism with basic morality. The oft-expressed idea that there is no right or wrong; it's only a matter of perspective. By July of 2005, the UN still couldn't agree on a definition of terrorism, and Libya had served on the Human Rights Council. These guys are very committed to what what they stand for, and they're slowly railroading us. There are many beautiful ideals in our world. Many incredible things we've learned, over the centuries, about how to get along. And we want to preserve them, and see them flourish. But, if we don't stand up for what we believe, in the face of a group of people who are very committed to what they believe, we'll lose them. Hitler almost succeeded. Imagine what the world would look like today if the Nazis had won. Really think about that for a minute. These guys are well on their way. We hope the film will inspire people to spend some time thinking about their beliefs, and commit to them, and fight for them.

Is there really a crisis?

When we see material in over 80 percent of the Saudi-funded mosques in the United States teaching hatred of Christian and Jews, when we see a generation of children being taught that violent jihad will help solve the world's problems, it's reasonable to say there's a crisis. There are communities throughout Europe-such as in the Banlieue, France and in Malmo, Sweden-that cops cannot enter alone. There are parts of Europe that young women have taken hijab (the veil worn by Muslim women) because if they don't, they could be raped. Norway's parliament has seriously suggested doing mandatory checks for female circumcision - a practice common in many fundamentalist Muslim communities. Daniel Pipes has said that an estimated 10-15 percent of Muslims around the world are Radical. That's well over 150 million. And the numbers are growing. The Iranians are serious when they say that when they get nuclear weapons, they will use them against Israel, and distribute the technology to others. And this is less than two years away, by most estimates. If Al-Qaeda acquires these weapons, they will use them.

Are you anti-Muslim?

We are not anti-Muslim. I think most Muslims share many of our values, and hate what they see going on around them, as much as we do. What we are against is the indoctrination, being promulgated by the Radical element, that is brainwashing many people in the Islamic world to hate. We are against the indoctrination that is inciting many of the people in the Islamic world to destroy us. (In truth, it's threatening them as well. In Iraq, for example, being a Shi'ite Muslim almost makes you as much a target from the Sunni insurgency, as being an American). We are against the Radical Islamists who want to impose their violent, oppressive world view, with little value for life and the manifold pleasures within. I remember listening to one leading radical cleric, Abu Hamza al-Masri, from London, who speaks out against singing-"hymns," he said, "like you hear in a church-particularly if it has instruments, because it leads to promiscuity." We are not keen to see the world become a replica of the Taliban or Saudi Arabia.

What has been the response from people, when they hear what you're doing?

People don't realize what's really going on. And when we show them the footage, the figures, the quotes, they're scared.

What are you hoping people will walk away with, after they see this film?

We're hoping they'll spend some serious time thinking about what are the values that are important to them, and why are they important. We're also hoping people will speak out against what's happening. Letters to congressmen. Letters to the editor. Fighting ignorance and bias when they see it. Marches and demonstations and petitions and activism on college campuses. Taking professors to task when they attack Western foreign policy, without giving any attention to the problems on the other side. Moderate Muslims creating watchdog groups for whatever enters their mosques and their schools, and ensuring that the values important to them are taught, if they see they are not. But the biggest defense against something like this, because of the ways it's infiltrating our various societies, is to stand strong, and be as proud of our heritage, as they are of their theirs. We should be equally as zealous as a suicide bomber, to choose to live a life of truth and meaning. We want people to walk away from the film knowing that sometimes you can stand up and say there's a right and a wrong, and that's okay, and you're not being intolerant or narrow-minded.

Are you afraid of the response to the film? Death threats and the like?

We're more afraid of what will happen if people don't wake-up to what's going on.

In the end, do you regret not making a film on Anti-Semitism?

No regrets. While Anti-Semitism can't be ignored, ultimately, we all decided that it was much more important for us to make a film showing the world-Jews, Christians, Muslims, Taiwanese, Philippinos-that their way of life is under the gun because of their shared beliefs. People don't realize this. We often look for some way to rationalize and explain why they're coming after us. Maybe it's because of Iraq, or Afghanistan, or maybe if Israel ceased to exist, all the world's problems with Radical Islam would go away. But the truth is they want to destroy us because they hate the values we stand for. And that's what this film is about.

The timing of this blog (the day before the election) is coincidental.